Block’s massive WRX snow jump

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block and his Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car have landed on the cover of the December issue of Snowboarder Magazine.  The cover shot features Block getting airborne in his Subaru at New Zealand's Snow Park Resort with DC Shoes pro-snowboarder Torstein Hargmo flying alongside the car on his snowboard.      

Block, an avid snowboarder and co-founder of DC Shoes, recently brought his Subaru to the snowboard park at New Zealand's Snow Park Resort to join the DC Snowboard Team for a multi-day session that combined filming, snowboarding, and driving for a unique experience captured for DC's second full-length snowboarding video, Mtn.Lab 1.5.

Along with the cover shot there is a multi-page feature full of photos from the session and a double sided pull-out poster featuring two more photos of Block's rally car catching air in the park.     

Block had the impetus for hitting the snow with his Subaru rally car after successfully jumping it 171 feet for the Discovery Channel show Stunt Junkies late in 2006. After several attempts to set up a snow jump in the USA, the opportunity came together in New  Zealand and Block joined the DC Snowboard team as they filmed at Snow Park Resort in New Zealand's South Island.     

"After I completed the Stunt Junkies jump last winter, I started kicking around the idea of trying a jump out on the snow," explained Block. "I've been a snowboarder for a long time and have loved driving in the snow since I first got behind the wheel. It was always a dream of mine to take a rally car to a ski resort and really see what I could do with it."     

Block and the team of DC snowboarders filmed together in the Snow Park Resort's main park on several obstacles and the crew built a 55ft tow-in kicker on flat ground to create a unique playground for the rally car and snowboarders alike.

Block towed the snowboarders into several park obstacles behind his Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car which was equipped with spiked ice tyres.  He then successfully jumped his car over 70 feet, with the snowboarders jumping beside him, creating epic photo sequences, one of which is featured on the cover of Snowboarder Magazine.    

"All in all I'm really stoked on how well it went," he said. "In all the experiences I've ever had, it truly was one of the most fun things I've ever done."  

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